Need for Speed Rivals hits the stores again as a "Complete Edition and will be released on October 21 in North America and October 24 in Europe.
This should fill the gap until the next NFS in 2015, for which EA/Ghost Games wants to invest more time in the development.
Compared to the version released in 2013, the Complete Edition contains all six DLCs:
Ferrari Edition Special Compete Pack – Includes both Cop and Racer versions of these extreme machines - The Ferrari F40 and the Ferrari F50.
Simply Jaguar Complete Pack – Includes both Cop and Racer versions of the Jaguar C-X75, the most advanced Jaguar ever created, and the Jaguar XJ220 - the world’s first Hypercar.
Concept Lamborghini Complete Pack – Includes both Cop and Racer versions of the astonishing Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo and the stunning Lamborghini Miura Concept.
The Koenigsegg Agera One – The Koenigsegg One:1 is in a category of its own. It´s not a Supercar, not a Hypercar…It´s a One:1. The name refers to the almost impossible and highly sought-after ratio of one horsepower per kilogram.
Complete Movie Pack – Includes Cop and Racer versions of the GTA Spano; and Lamborghini Sesto Elemento. Plus, the Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR 722 Edition as a Cop and the Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Roadster 722 S as a Racer.
Loaded Garage Pack – Complete your vehicle collection with the Loaded Garage Pack which includes the Ultimate Cop Pack, Ultimate Racer Pack, Premium Livery Pack, Classic Muscle Livery, Track Day Livery, VIP Matte Kit Livery and Digital Revolution Livery.
And of course there is a new trailer announcing the product:
The Koenigsegg One:1 was reveiled today at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show: the name One:1 stands for the 1:1 relation between power and weight. With 1,340 horsepower the car weighs 1,340 kg.
And the best part is, before others can drive it you can sit behind the wheel of this supercar in Need for Speed Rivals!
With the latest update the car is availble in the game on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3 and PC.
Need for Speed Rivals gets extended and receives with the Ferrari Pack and Jaguar Pack two new DLCs for your gaming experience.
The Ferrari Pack features the anniversary editions of the F40 1987 and F50 1995 models – at the time when both were released, they were each the fastest, most powerful, and most expensive car that Ferrari sold to the public.
The Jaguar Pack includes the XJ220 and the Jaguar C-X75 Prototype – a hybrid-electric two-seater named in honor of Jaguar’s 75th Anniversary.
Additionally in the next weeks there might come more content over the social media channels, so stay tuned.
The packs are available as digital purchase on Playstation 3 and 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC (Origin). The packs are sold as racer or cop-packs, or together in Complete Packs.
EA and Ford present the upcoming 2015 Ford Mustang which is playable right now in Need for Speed Rivals! Just a few days after the all-new Mustang was revealed, it's ready for a test-drive in your garage.
Additional to the Ford Mustang you get in the latest patch the following:
- You can also chase down Racers in the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 as a cop car.
- There's an in-game Ford garage as a Racer hide-out.
- Try to obtain the three new, Ford driving achievements.
--- "Deep Down, You Know You Want To" - Drive for 50 minutes in an Ford car
--- "5, 4, 3, 2, Mach 1" - Get 50 seconds of Air time in an Ford car
--- "Lcnce N Rgstrtn Pls" - Bust 10 Racers in the Ford Mustang
- Not to mention, you’ll have access to five all-new liveries, four of which were community-created on the Mustang Customizer online or on mobile devices. The fifth bonus design was created by RTR founder and Drift champion Vaughn Gittin Jr.
To get the 2015 Ford Mustang you have to install the latest patch of NFS Rivals.
You can watch a gameplay video of the Ford Mustang here:
The Need for Speed Network offers a new possibility keep an eye on the environments in the NFS world. You can not only track the racing times of you and your friends, with "Overwatch" you can even interact with the world from your mobile or tablet.
Help your friends by refilling their nitrous, repairing their car and refilling their tech on the go, or choose to hinder them by deploying cop tech into their game, all in real-time.
Additionally you can use the NFS Network as a second screen, where you can view the world map and see where your friends are in Redview County.
The NFS Network for mobile and tablet replaces the previous NFS Most Wanted Compagnion App.
Need for Speed Rivals is limited to 30 frames per second, even if you have a high-end PC and could handle more. With this little trick you can increase the number of frames per second to 60:
Start the file NFS14.exe in the command prompt (or create a link) with the parameter "-GameTime.MaxSimFps 60 -GameTime.ForceSimRate 60" (without quotation marks).
Update:
Appended the parameter GameTime.ForceSimRate, which solves the problem that the game becomes unrealistically fast, when using only GameTime.MaxSimFps.. Although it creates new problems, when the PC is not able to render the 60 FPS constantly.
Interesting announcement from EA: as it seems the PC version of Need for Speed Rivals doesn't support any driving-wheels or other peripherals, at least according to this support-document:
Is there any peripheral support?
Need for Speed Rivals will not support any driving-wheels or other peripherals.
It's not known how serious this statement is, or if it just means that there are no concrete modifications for any steering wheels, but generic wheels could work?
The recently announcedGymkhana SIX was now released, Ken Block on the Ultimate Gymkhana GRID Course!
Ken Block built a GRID, a playground for drifting enthusiasts, showcasing the sheer speed, fun and exhilarating action of driving. Several obstacles raise the difficulty for him to master in his Ford Fiesta ST RX43 2013. Maneuvering around a moving wrecking ball and sliding through narrow opening cut into the sides of shipping containers:
As a "Racing Advisor" for Need for Speed, Ken added some videogame elements from Need for Speed Rivals: multiple jumps, drifts around Lamborghini Aventadors while evading Redview County cops on Segways.
"I'm stoked about how Gymkhana SIX has turned out", said Ken Block. "Obviously we had to go in a different direction this year after conquering San Francisco in Gymkhana FIVE and the tie-in with Gymkhana GRID for me was a natural direction. It really challenges me as a driver and the course that we’ve created for this video is an interpretation of what my ultimate Gymkhana GRID course would look like."
Electronic Arts re-structures itself and as part of the move the Need for Speed franchise will find its place in the EA Sports family!
In an interview with Polygon Executive Vice President of EA Studios Patrick Söderlund talks about the changes and NFS will be overseen by Matt Bilbey, who has already overseen several EA Sports titles for years.
"Matt will run FIFA, he runs UFC, but he also runs NHL (or has people that report up to him)," Soderlund said. "We're also putting Need for Speed and our driving business under Matt. We think that could benefit from from fresh eyes, could benefit from some different thinking, and we think that Matt is the right guy to do that. He's got a very different viewpoint about how to make games and what great games.
At the same time he stated that this doesn't mean that Need for Speed is necessarily going to transform into a realistic simulator: "I find that to be highly unlikely, to be honest," he said. "It's more [that], when you've had a franchise that's been going on for 20 years like Need for Speed, I think it was time for us to get a different pair of eyes on it, a fresh look and feel on it. If something can come in and make take it to the next level, take it to a different direction.
"It's a way for us to push innovation and push a different creative brain or mindset onto Need for Speed."
With the upcoming Need for Speed Rivals EA updates its NFS Most Wanted Companion App for iOS and presents the new Need for Speed Network!
The app concentrates starting November 19th 2013 on NFS Rivals and will drop support for NFS Most Wanted. The NFS Network app shall provide statistics and additional features for the NFS games.
Starting with NFS Rivals the app will support for upcoming NFS titles in the future as well as keeping support for previous titles - ironically not for NFS Most Wanted. If you want to keep the Most Wanted functionality, EA suggests not to update the app and make sure have no auto-update enabled.
What exactly the NFS Network will be and can do is not known yet, but it's expected to get revealed in the next few weeks.
Ferrari returns to the Need for Speed series and the exotic brand makes an appearance in the upcoming Need for Speed Rivals!
Who can remember, the last NFS Ferraris were in the Ferrari Racing Pack in Need for Speed Shift, but it all really startet with the Ferrari 512TR in Need for Speed back in 1994. Shortly after, in Need for Speed II the 355 F1 Coupe and F50 joined the ranks and then in Need for Speed III the 355 FI Spider, the 456M GT and the 550 Maranello!
The Ferrari lineup in Need for Speed Rivals is as followed:
Need for Speed Rivals is among the launch titles of the Playstation 4 in North America! This means that the game will be available on day one of the upcoming Playstation 4 on November 15th!
Initially EA planned a simultaneous launch of the Playstation 4- and Xbox One version on November 22nd, but with this step Need for Speed Rivals turns into a launch title of the upcoming consoles. The PS4 will hit the stores on November 15th, Xbox One on November 22nd. The classic platforms PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 will be released on November 19th (in North America).
Europeans will need to have a little more patience, the Playstation 4 will be released (together with NFS Rivals on PS4) on November 29th, but Xbox One on November 21st. The PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will be released on November 22nd in Europe.
NFS Rivals: New Trailer "Ultimate Cars, Speed and Rivalry"
Tuesday, 29.10.2013
A new trailer of Need for Speed Rivals gives you an impression of the upcoming game. In "Ultimate Cars, Speed and Rivalry" the hottest and fastest cars cruise through the streets of Redview County and racers like Zephyr risk it all while the Cops cross the line to stop them in the ultimate rivalry of the roads.
Need for Speed announced a partnership with racing sensation and action sports icon Ken Block! He will support the dev team as a "Racing Advisor", lending his unique insights into what it takes to push the action and adrenaline of racing to new limits.
"Partnering with EA and Need for Speed is a natural fit for our team. I feel like we both have the same goal in mind – to let people live out a fantasy of really pushing the limits of what you can do in the driver’s seat," said Ken Block. "It's that special mix of fast-pace, raw speed and over-the-top fun, which has made the Gymkhana series a success, and something the Need for Speed games capture really well. We’re both excited to show you how we’re taking things to a new level in Gymkhana SIX in just a few weeks."
Additionally Need for Speed is sponsoring Ken Block's Ford Fiesta ST 2013 racing car and will be working with him on the release of Gymkhana SIX, the next installment of the award-winning viral video franchise. Gymkhana SIX will be released on November 11th.
Need for Speed Rivals will not be released for Wii U or PS Vita. In talks with The Sixth Axis Creative Director Craig Sullivan explains that Ghost Games (the developers of NFS Rivals) are working on their very first title and many factors are in play. The team was formed largely of staff from Criterion Games and in addition to the new team and the resulting transitionary period NFS Rivals is being developed for many platforms, both on current- and next-gen consoles.
Additionally the Frostbite 3 engine has not been ported to either Wii U or PS Vita yet, in contrast to the Chameleon engine which was used for NFS Most Wanted. A game which apparently didn't sell as good as they've hoped (on Wii U):
Honestly, it’s not the kind of stuff that I like talking about in detail, that much. We did a load of extra work on the Wii U version, and we had a lot of guys working on that stuff, you know?
It didn’t really sell that many, in terms of the Wii U market. I would love for it to have, because we put so much effort into that, trust me. I’d love for it to be way bigger than it was, and the same for the Vita.
[Rivals] is going onto new hardware, and you have to work out where you focus your efforts. The 200 people working on this game are only capable of making so much, and doing so many different versions of the game, so we had to go with where we think the biggest audience will be for the game, and that’s where we are.
A new video was released, which shows the new AllDrive Feature in Need for Speed Rivals! AllDrive which seamlessly blends Single and Multiplayer and allows you to join other people's races.
The system requirements for the PC version of Need for Speed Rivals were announced today. Your PC has to meet the following requirements to play the game:
MINIMUM System Requirements
OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 CPU: Intel 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, AMD 2.6 GHz Athlon X2 RAM: At least 4 GB DISC DRIVE: CD/DVD ROM drive required for installation only HARD DRIVE: At least 30 GB of free space VIDEO: AMD Radeon 3870 512Mb or better, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 Mb or better, IntelHD 4000 integrated 512Mb or better DIRECTX: DirectX 10.1 compatible INPUT: Keyboard and mouse ONLINE CONNECTION REQUIREMENTS: 512 Kbps or faster internet connection
RECOMMENDED System Requirements
OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (Recommended is Windows 8 64-bit) CPU: Intel Quad Core CPU, AMD Duo Core CPU RAM: At least 8 GB DISC DRIVE: CD/DVD ROM drive required for installation only HARD DRIVE: At least 30 GB of free space VIDEO: AMD Radeon 7870 3Gb or better, NVIDIA GeForce GT660 3Gb or better DIRECTX: DirectX 11 compatible INPUT: Keyboard and mouse ONLINE CONNECTION REQUIREMENTS: 512 Kbps or faster internet connection
Ghost Games answered questions from the community and talks about Racer progressin in Need for Speed Rivals:
Excerpt: Exactly how big is the map? Can players easily memorize it like in Most Wanted?
The world of Redview County is bigger than Most Wanted and well over 100 miles (16X16 km) of open roads. It is a place designed specifically for driving in the world’s best cars at speeds over 200mph. There are also different shortcuts not shown on the map for you to find.
How can we unlock cars and racer tech at the same time, and what happens if we already have the fastest cars and best tech?
You will unlock new cars every time you complete a Speedlist or Assignment and head back to your Safe House or Hideout. After you unlock a car, you can then purchase it with your SpeedPoints. Pursuit tech on the other hand is all unlocked from the beginning, but you do need SpeedPoints to buy them. But, as you progress through the game you will unlock higher levels of each tech.
You can find the complete Q&A under the following link:
This year NFS-Planet visited gamescom and followed Electronic Arts' invitation to play the latest upcoming titles. Next to Titanfall and Battlefield 4 of course we paid special attention on Need for Speed Rivals and participated at the EA community day.
What you can expect from the upcoming Need for Speed Rivals and our impression of the game is summed up in our hands-on article:
New screenshots of Need for Speed Rivals were published recently, giving you an impression of the game which will hit the stores on November 19th, 2013:
NFS Rivals: Ask Ghost / Personalization and Racer Tech
Tuesday, 24.09.2013
Ghost Games, the developer of Need for Speed Rivals answered questions from the community and talks on the official Need for Speed website about personalization and racer tech:
Excerpt: Personalization is a key feature we wanted to bring back to Need for Speed because of how perfectly it fits with AllDrive. When you’re playing in an open world where you can seamlessly run into your friends, it’s important to make your car standout.
In Rivals, we let you personalize your car in a couple different ways. The first is how it looks as you can choose from millions of different colors, rims, decals, license plates and liversies. The second is through performance where you can upgrade your car in five different categories – Top Speed, Acceleration, Control, Strength and Durability. This is done through level upgrades and not individual car parts because you’re already driving the fastest, supercars in the world like Ferrari. And the third is with tech. In Rivals, you can pick which evasive tech best suits your playing style, whether its spike strips, jammers or turbo. You have two slots for your tech and seven options to choose from as a racer.
[...]
For the personalization, will we be able to draw and create our own patterns on the cars, or will it be just a selection of shape options that we can custom color?
No, we have provided millions of different colors, rims, decals and liveries for you to choose from. The color tones in particular is quite expansive where you can create a gold plated car.
You can find the complete Q&A under the following link:
Playstation 4 and Xbox One will hit the stores in two months, which brings the question how the games will look like on the new platforms. Especially with cross-platform titles it looks convenient to take a current-gen game, scale it up and throw it on the market as a next-gen game.
In an interview with MCV UKPatrick Söderlund, EA Games label boss, talks about next-gen consoles and assures, that Need for Speed Rivals and Battlefield 4 are being developed for the upcoming consoles and downscaled to run on current-gen hardware.
Excerpt: Do you worry that as most of your games are on both current and next-gen, and because of games like GTA?V, that players might delay buying the new consoles?
If you look at GTA V – which looks crazy, I can’t wait to play it – and when you look at GTA?IV, the difference between the two is significant. I don’t expect the difference between what launches on PS4 today and what launches at the end tail of that to be quite that dramatic, but I still think it will be dramatic. Battlefield 4 and Need for Speed this year were built from the ground-up on next gen, and scaled back for current consoles. Rather than making a current gen game and scaling it up, we went the other way around.
Developers are smart, they figure out ways to get more out of the boxes. That will happen. For next year’s games, I am already seeing games doing things we were not able to do on the ones coming this year. That will be an industry-wide thing.
But when you get your hands on Battlefield 4, 64-players, 60 frames per second, with the fidelity you have on next-gen consoles, versus the 360 or PS3 version, the difference there is significant. We are for the first time offering 64-players, that’s 40 more than before, that makes the game significantly different. On top of that, doubling the frame rate and improving the graphics creates a better feel. That’s just simple stuff, but that makes a big difference. One that’s significant enough to make people say: “I’ve got to have that.”
Need for Speed games have been inconsistent in quality. The games made by UK studio Criterion have been great, but the others have been a mixed bag. Is that why you set up this new Need for Speed developer Ghost Games?
Ghost in Gothanberg was created with not just Need for Speed, but driving games in mind. There’s a lot of car nuts there, a lot of people who have built racing games in the past. And I’m surprised at how quickly they have established themselves. We have taken some senior people, Craig Sullivan from Criterion has moved to Gothenberg, Jamie Keen who was a key design person on Far Cry 3 has moved there. We have assembled an experienced team, with some former DICE employees, as well.
But if I tell a studio that they are going to make a Need for Speed game every year for the foreseeable future, that might seem daunting. People need breathing room. I don’t believe you can make a great game in eight months. You have to give enough time to people to be creative and express themselves. We have always had two teams working on Need for Speed. So it was a natural step to start a new studio.
We looked all over the world. We looked at the UK. But it boiled down to Gothenberg strangely enough, and it seems to be the right choice.
In a new trailer Electronic Arts presents the personalization possibilities of the cars in Need for Speed Rivals. There are not so many possibilities as in NFS Underground, but you can adjust several visual and performance parts at your own cars:
NFS Rivals: Weapons, Gaming Mechanics and Unlockable Abilities
Thursday, 12.09.2013
Electronic Arts published a new video, which goes a bit more into detail regarind the weapons, gaming mechanics and unlockable abilities in Need for Speed Rivals.
Producer Leanne Loombe answers questions from Matt Littler and Darren Jeffries and talks about the already known Speed Points, which can be spent on upgrades and cars. Additionally Cops can choose from 11 unlockable weapons, among them EMPs, shockwaves, road blocks, helicopters and of course classic spike strips.
The Need for Speed brand needs consistency and the last years it was a bit confusing as every NFS came from a different development studio, missing a clear line.
Marcus Nilsson talked with VideoGamer.com and announced that Ghost Games wants to take over the series Need for Speed Rivals. He believes "Need For Speed needs continuity", and that EA is "now thinking about the brand as Ghost owns it".
When you go from a Shift experience to The Run experience to a Hot Pursuit experience, then the brand loses credibility and the gamer should know what he can expect. Ghost Games wants to re-establish that credibility and has the best prerequisites. They develop with the Frostbite 3 engine and want to for a consistend Need for Speed experience with pursuits, online open worlds and a narrative forming.
Criterion ist still involved in the development of NFS Rivals, but how long remains to be seen. Asked whether future games in the series would alternate between Ghost and Criterion year-on-year, Nilsson replied: "No, you're not going to see that." He also suggested that Ghost could make a sequel to Need For Speed: Underground if there was enough demand.
James Mouat talks about the progression and scoring mechanics in Need for Speed Rivals on the official website.
It was important to the development team to present the player lots of content and let them choose their career path. Whether you prefer testing your driving skills, racing and competition or following the spirit of "seek and destroy" - you can follow your goals and your own unique career path.
With AllDrive the worlds of single- and multiplayer merge and the developers had to rethink how to deliver a single-player style narrative progression experience in a multiplayer world where players of all levels of skill and progression could be interacting.
During the game players can collect so-called Speed Points (SP). You can earn SP by building a multiplier each time you leave your hideout and begin driving. The bigger your multiplier, the more SP you earn for every action you take in the game. The riskier the action, the faster you will build up your multiplier. Once you return to your hideout, you can "bank" your SP earned in that session and the multiplier will reset back to 1x.
If you get caught by the police, you will lose all your collected SP, which couldn't get "banked".
This means if you play as a cop, you can try to stop the racers and take away their SP!
You can find more details about the Progression and Scoring Mechanics in Need for Speed Rivals here:
Need for Speed Rivals will run with "only" 30 frames per second, instead of 60 fps. This is due to the AllDrive feature. With AllDrive multiple players can meet in the open world and bump into each other whether they're completing Assignments as a cop, Speed Lists as a Racer, or just exploring.
"It is a choice we made to be able to push what we believe is really important for our typical gamer: get a lot of things happening on the screen at the same time," meint Nilsson im Interview.
"Anything can happen in AllDrive. That's the key innovation with this game. You don't have single-player, co-op or multiplayer. It just happens seamlessly."
"I could be playing the game, setting a time, and all of a sudden you could come into that world, and you could be carrying AI, I could be carrying AI, and all of a sudden, on that screen, there are a lot of cars. We always have to budget for the worst case scenario."
"So in this case we've prioritised the gameplay, because we think 30fps is giving a satisfactory experience"
On current consoles up to 6 players will be able to be in the same city, but this may change before release. On PC and next-gen consoles it might may be possible to increase the multiplayer count.
"Since we discovered AllDrive, we've never gone for 24 or 36 players, because it doesn't make sense. It just becomes chaos. You've seen how online racing games behave, right? Unless you're number one, it's boring. This way you can all have fun playing together but fulfilling your own objectives."
You can find the complete interview with Marcus Nilsson here:
EA is fully dedicated to the current Gamescom in Cologne, Germany and streams live from the gaming exhibition, presenting their upcoming games. You can find a video of the following interview with Jamie Keen, Senior Producer of Need for Speed Rivals:
During the exhibition you can watch EA's livestream - for today 6:15 pm GTM+2 a Need for Speed Rivals session is planned, as you can see in the schedule:
This week Gamescom will open its doors, Europe’s biggest trade fair for interactive games and entertainment in Cologne, Germany. Today EA will host a press conference, presenting the latest games, with among them Need for Speed Rivals!
You can watch the press conference in the livestream here - start is on August 20th, 16:00pm GMT+2:
James Mouat, Lead Designer at Need for Speed Rivals announced on the official Need for Speed Website information about the personalization possibilities. Withh the AllDrive-Feature you routinely encounter your friends on the open roads and of course you will want to show off your vehicles and driving skills.
Members of the Redview County Police Force (RCPF), where players can work through the ranks, will be offered a different take on what personalization means to an officer. Cop cars should be uniform and cannot sport all sorts of wild colors and styles.
Instead, depending on how you choose to play, you will unlock different versions of each car: Patrol, Enforcer or a third class, which will be unveiled next week at EA's press conference at Gamescom on August 20, 5pm GMT+2.
The standard issue is the Patrol car, which will be the easiest to unlock and offer a general performance in all areas, with a standard RCPD livery. Enforcer cars offer a reinforced construction, allowing them to deal the most damage in car-to-car combat situations and will have a more elite styled RCPD livery to reflect their special status.
Need for Speed Rivals will be released this fall on all current platforms, but in the background EA's studio Ghost Games is also working on releases for the next-gen consoles Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
As Creative Director Craig Sullivan mentioned in an interview with Digitalspy, there won't be any major differences between the versions for current- and next-gen consoles:
Are there any differences between current and next-gen versions of Need for Speed Rivals?
"Visuals, maybe the amount of players, maybe not. Technically we can do a lot of players, but it's just easier to do with more horsepower on next-gen machines. [...]
But between the visuals, the video sharing, there will be other little bits and pieces that we can't talk about yet, and maybe the amount of players. But ultimately the games will be the same, it's just there will be slight tweaks and modifications for the next-gen versions."
The winners of the Game Critics Awards were announced today, honoring the "Best of E3 2013"!
Titanfall is the ultimate matchwinner with 6 Awards, but this year's Need for Speed shouldn't be too bad either: Need for Speed Rivals won the Best Racing Game Award at the E3 2013! Other nominees were Forza 5, Gran Turismo 6, Mario Kart 8 and The Crew.
The Game Critics Awards are announced annually subsequent to the E3. The winners are determined by a jury of 30 publications.
In the last years EA brought a new Need for Speed, rotating development studios. In an interview with IGN EA Labels president Frank Gibeau doesn't seem so sure, if this will continue in the future.
Gibeau believes that Need for Speed is a franchise that has a lot of room to grow, and while thus far the returns have made it worth annualizing the franchise, there’s no guarantee that will continue.
"We take Need for Speed one at a time,” Gibeau said. “We’re going to see how Rivals does this fall. We’re very pleased with it. We think it looks great. It plays extremely sharp this early in development. We have a lot of cool features in terms of how you mingle single-player and multiplayer. We’re confident. There’s a lot of driving games out there this fall. There’s a lot of competition in the segment. But Need for Speed, I think, is now in its 15th year? Its 17th year? It’s still going strong. It’s still selling multiple millions of copies. It’s got great opportunities on the PC and mobile devices. The Need for Speed brand is reaching some of the largest audiences it’s ever reached in its history. We’re continuing to find ways to tell new stories and innovate. But if you look at Need for Speed this year, we’re going to learn from it, and we’ll come back with a future announcement of what we’re going to do next."
Sounds a little like the performance of Need for Speed Rivals might lead the direction of the NFS series, especially since a new NFS has to be already in development, if a release for 2014 is planned. However you can interpret very much in these words...it could also mean which studio will get to make the next NFS game, since Ghost Games was only recently founded and specializes on EA's Frostbite Engine.
NFS Rivals: Interview with Marcus Nilsson about Next-Gen Consoles and Multiplayer
Tuesday, 02.07.2013
Pocket-lint interviewed at the E3 Executive Producer Marcus Nilsson from EA Ghost Games and talks about Next-Gen consoles, Multiplayer and the AllDrive Feature in Need for Speed Rivals:
Excerpt: As a car fan what's your highlight; that little something special that's in Rivals that you're most proud of?
"The biggest thing of the whole game: The AllDrive feature. Obviously coming from Battlefield and playing Need For Speed games I'm like, 'It's no wonder Need For Speed fans don't play online, because it's so troublesome to go online really - they're scared to go online.' In NFS Rivals you have one experience: you have one world you choose to have the experience in, you start playing the game in the UK, I start playing the game in Sweden and because we're friends we're put into the same world. And we don't even have to see each other - you could play your thing or turn off and I can carry on playing. But if we happen to be merging then I can start going after you, seamlessly going into a multiplayer experience."
How many people can play multiplayer?
"We haven't found the real numbers for what we can do. But it's not going to be a question about what the marketing people want - 'it must be a high number' - as this feature's not about high numbers, it's about finding the right level of people in that open world to make the gameplay and action be as epic as possible. It's going to be more about what most people can crowd together and play with - which is probably less than 10. Because you've go to remember this is obviously a game you play online with your friends, but you also have a lot of AI that's also there online. So the world is going to feel really filled with stuff to do."
Need for Speed Rivals, currently in development by the swedish studio Ghost Games, will be released on November 19th, 2013 for Xbox360, PS3 and PC.
As Lead Designer James Mouat told Joystiq, the game is also being prepared for the next-generation consoles and the team wants the game to "be out on launch" for Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
The latest part of the NFS series, Need for Speed Rivals, will have a new feature called AllDrive!
AllDrive blurs the borders between single- and multiplayer gaming. At EA's E3 presentation of Need for Speed Rivals it was shown on stage, starting with one player in a singleplayer race. Few moments later, a second player could seemlessly join the game as a cop and start hunting the racer. Meanwhile presentor Marcus Nilsson had it's joy with sending choppers to the scene with his tablet.
Joining singleplayer races, while they're already in progress, sounds like an interesting feature, which results in new unexpected gameplay situations and gives you a special kick to play with your friends. If AllDrive is really as much fun as it looked in the presentation, remains to be seen.
The E3 in Los Angeles starts next week and on Monday EA holds a press conference where the newest games will be presented - among them Need for Speed Rivals!
Per SpikeTV the E3 presentation will be broadcasted live! The stream starts on Monday, June 10th at 1pm PDT! (check here for your local time)
Help shaping the game and vote for the "King of the Streets"! EA lets the community decide, which is the best supercar and the winning car that you vote for will be the only car playable as both a cop and racer in Need for Speed Rivals.
Starting May 27th you can choose between 8 different cars on the Need for Speed Facebook page:
You can choose from the following:
-Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series
-Porsche Cayman S
-Aston Martin Vanquish
-Ford GT
-Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
-Dodge Charger SRT8
-Pagani Huayra
-Lexus LFA
Visit the Need for Speed Facebook page for more information:
Now it's official: the new NFS will be Need for Speed Rivals, hitting the stores on November 19th, 2013!
The game is being developed by Ghost Games, the EA studio in Gothenburg, Sweden. The engine is Frostbite 3 and you can get a first impression with the following teaser:
In Need for Speed Rivals it's once again all about cops vs illegal racers. The open-world is set in the fictional Redview County. Players can collect speedpoints when trying to escape cops.
Also noteworthy is that Ferrari makes it into the game, e.g. with the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta.
After the first teaser-screenshot with a pursuit car, EA revealed another screenshot - this time showing a Ferrari with the caption "The Rivalry Begins":
A Ferrari is unusual, as this brand had problems to find it's way into the Need for Speed series...maybe until now?
The screenshot on Facebook points to May 23rd, which might means that the new Need for Speed for 2013 will be revelaed today.
EA published over their social media channels a first teaser-screenshot, which seems to be the new Need for Speed 2013! The picture has the caption Have no rules, show no mercy.
We have no more information at the moment, but a presentation of the game is expected at the E3 Expo.
Joystick Junkies wants to set up the official Need for Speed Merchandise Store and asks for feedback from the community! They already run the official DICE / Battlefield 3 Store and now want to turn to the NFS community with the following survey:
Everyone entering will get a 10% discount code and you could win $500 of free shopping in the store at launch. Help shape the future of the official Need For Speed Merchandise store!
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Need for Speed Rivals hits the stores again as a "Complete Edition and will be released on October 21 in North America and October 24 in Europe.
Electronic Arts re-structures itself and as part of the move the Need for Speed franchise will find its place in the EA Sports family!
The Need for Speed brand needs consistency and the last years it was a bit confusing as every NFS came from a different development studio, missing a clear line.
